


Nothing makes sense anymore

by Piece_of_shit



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: But aren't we all, Crossover, Don't sue me I think it'd be cute and they'd balance each other, HP:EWE, Harry and Luna are only a small thing okay, Harry is a Little Shit, Harry is also wise, How Do I Tag, I don't even know how major the ship will be, If nothing else it'll be a, Immortality, Lots of aliens - Freeform, M/M, Magic and Science, Master of Death Harry Potter, Moving On, Sassy Harry, Shenanigans, Slow Burn, The Doctor is confused, The Doctor is emotionally constipated, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-06-22 03:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15572367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piece_of_shit/pseuds/Piece_of_shit
Summary: “No.”“Why?”“You are not coming on the TARDIS.”“Why not?”“Because I said so.”“That’s not a real reason.”“Yes it is! I won’t let you, so you can’t!”“Why not?”“Because you are a stranger, I don’t know you, and I don’t trust you.”Or, Harry ends up in the Doctor's world, then helps save the day with magic. The Doctor is confused and suspicious. Shenanigans and a vague overarching plot ensues.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all like it! My 14-year old sister told me it was good, for what it's worth. Feel free to comment!

It was all over. The war, the wounds, the hiding and the evil. It was over, but it left scars and emptiness in its wake. War was all Harry had ever known, and the last thing he wanted was to take that job as an Auror, to keep fighting.

No, he needed something else. But what? What could there possibly be for him in this world, where all the witches and wizards knew his name and face?

Sure, there was Ron and Hermione. The Weasley Family. Grimmauld Place. But no Sirius, Remus, Hogwarts, Dumbledore, or Snape. Even Voldemort was gone, and Harry didn’t remember a life without him. Everyone had lost something in the war. Everyone was mourning, and trying to keep other standing as they got back to their lives. It was hard to forget, though, when you could feel the damage every second of every day.

The effort to rebuild Hogwarts had been a nice distraction, once Harry and others had moved passed the flashbacks. He, Hermione and Ron spent hours each day erasing the scorch marks from the wall or repairing a destroyed tower. It required intense magical strength and concentration, so it was all he could do to keep up with the tasks. A couple times, he found himself working until the sun had long since set. The exhaustion reached his very soul. And he didn’t know what to do.

He skipped another rock across the lake. It only bounced twice before splashing into the water. It was too early in the morning for other people to be up, dawn only barely breaking. The leftover chill of the night made his skin numb. He felt so tired, but he could not sleep. He reached into the edge of the lake to find another rock. The water was freezing. He remembered the press of the ice-cold water from the Triwizard Tournament. It had been shocking, overwhelming. As he had moved, he got used to it. But he couldn’t imagine diving in again, not when the air above was hard enough to breathe.

With another splash, the next rock sunk into the lake.

 

~~~

 

He took that job as an Auror. Ron and Hermione had gotten married. Malfoy wasn’t as much of a git anymore. Hogwarts’ headmaster was Professor McGonagall. Any remaining Death Eaters were either in Azkaban or hiding far, far away.

Life was moving on. Harry knew it was happening, but it didn’t feel real. It felt like he should have died at the end of the war. His purpose was to defeat Voldemort, and once that was accomplished, the story should have ended there. Yet the sun kept rising, adding a new page he wasn’t ready for.

Ron and Hermione knew something was wrong by the next Christmas reunion. They knew he was hiding something dark, and that it was draining the life from him. Sure, he knew he looked like pale and exhausted, and he knew that they cared enough to worry, but that didn’t stop the irritation at their mothering.

They never outright said anything, thank Merlin. There was no way he could let himself think on it. He had gone on a walk when he couldn’t sleep, and saw their disapproving expressions when he returned past midnight. He had expected the beginnings of a lecture, but was surprised when Hermione and Ron both hugged him, and said “good night.”

It wasn’t until the next Christmas that the things in his head spilled into their laps.

“Harry, you know, Luna is single. I know you haven’t talked to her in a while, but I could give her your address so you could owl each other.”

Hermione’s suggestion had caught him by surprise. “Excuse me?”

“Luna. Remember? The blonde Ravenclaw who liked—“

“I know who Luna is,” he snapped back. “I just… Merlin, why would you suggest that?”

Hermione shifted anxiously in her seat. It was just her and Harry in the living room, the other Weasleys having gone last-minute Christmas shopping in Diagon Alley. Harry should have seen this semi-intervention coming. “I just think that it would do you good, you know, to get out a bit more.”

“What are you talking about? I go with you two to events. I go to the pub with coworkers.”

“Harry, you haven’t done that in 5 months.”

“How did you know that?” Of all the details about him to know.

“I get lunch with Padma sometimes, and she works in your department. Anyways, that’s beside the point. I think you’re becoming a bit of a recluse.”

“I’m comfortable with my life.” And on the most part, he was. He would go to work, return late at night, and read books he could find in the Black library in Grimmauld Place. There was a surprising amount of spells he had learned from the extra-curricular studying. Kreacher made him dinner, and cleaned the place as best he wanted to. He still muttered about blood traitors, but he and Harry had something of a truce nowadays. “And anyways, it’s much better than being mobbed by wizards every time I want to do my shopping. Everyone talking about how great a deed I did, how noble and brave I was to die for them. Like I was supposed to do anything else. I’m just so fed up with it all.”

“Harry.”

“What?”

“What exactly are you fed up with?” Her expression was compassionate, but he vaguely noted the hint of her characteristic fiery curiosity.

The words that tumbled from his mouth couldn’t be stopped then. “I was born and raised to defeat Voldemort. I didn’t do anything besides fulfill my purpose to the world. I don’t want their gratitude. What in the hell am I supposed to do with it? And what the hell am I doing now to deserve it? Being an Auror is nothing special, and nothing compared to ‘Savior of the Wizarding World.’ There’s nothing that I can do. I’ve outlived my purpose, so I’m useless now.”

He breathed in, not realizing how badly he needed the oxygen. His eyes were no longer focused on Hermione, instead on some space in between. There was a tightness in his chest and an aching in his bones. Somehow it was more exhausting to say all that, than it was to chase down a rogue Death Eater.

There was a moment of silence, filled only with Harry’s breathing and the ticking of the grandfather clock. It was interrupted when Hermione moved from her chair to sit next to Harry, and wrap her arms around him, her face in his shoulder.

“Oh, Harry,” she said, her voice thick. “I’m so sorry you think that.”

Harry suddenly felt hot tears run down his cheeks. “But it’s true,” he managed to say around the lump in his throat. The feel of her arms was comforting, something he hadn’t felt in a long while.

“Harry, you are more than just an enemy to Voldemort. You’re kind, you’re determined, you’re brave, and most importantly, you’re our friend. There’s so much you can do with it all.” She pulled her head back and met his eyes. “Your parents didn’t want you to be a Savior, they wanted you to be happy, and to live a good life. You can have that, now that the war is over.”

Harry swallowed, pursed his lips, and tried to keep the tears from falling. It was too late to stop it, of course, since they were running rivers now. His parents. He hadn’t thought of them for a while. They had been victims of the war, and been kept boxed up with the other memories. It was almost painful, to remember their love and happiness, always there and never changing.

“Hermione is right, you know.” Harry looked up to see Ron standing at the doorway. He could’ve been there for the entire time, given how overwhelmed Harry felt. “You have friends, not because you defeated You-Know-Who, but because of who you are. You deserve everything that everyone else does. Like, I don’t know, a chance at being happy.”

Harry tried to laugh, but it came out sounding like a choke. He finally hugged Hermione back. They were right, of course.

 After that day, Harry got better.

 

~~~

 

The Doctor had made his peace with the Ponds. They had been taken from him, but they had a happy life. It was all he could have hoped for. And it was time. It was better that this was how they left, rather than by death or something worse.

So he should not be grieving this much. He should not be hurting this much. For Rassilon’s sake, the pain shouldn’t be so strong that he felt ready to die at any moment.

This was his last regeneration. Amy and Rory had been his companions this entire regeneration, and they were gone. This version of him couldn’t not exist without an Amy and a Rory. It was like he was missing himself. Other versions had experienced loss and moved on, but how? He couldn’t remember. He could remember entire galaxies and their people, he could remember dying and coming back, he could remember each and every adventure with his companions, but this he could not. What if he couldn’t bear it this time?

Okay, so fine. He hadn't made his peace yet.

 

~~~

 

Harry and Luna married. Luna was the calm in his life, constant and unconditionally loving. They complemented each other, and lived in a peaceful happiness Harry had never known. Sure, Luna was strange, but then again, they lived in a world of spells and hippogriffs and horcruxes, so maybe Luna fit it better than others. And he loved her.

And then they had five children. Sometimes it was overwhelming, but he loved them all. It felt like his heart could burst from love and happiness when he thought about it for too long.

He cried when they sent off their first two children, twins, to Hogwarts. Evangeline and Thalia both waved as the train left, their blonde heads disappearing in smoke. Then it was Marc, his too-long black hair disappearing after walking aboard with his sisters. That was perhaps harder. And when Aquila left, he was familiar with the aching and missing, but he still had Damian. Of course, then Damian left, he had to hold tight to Luna’s hand, and return home to quiet.

But he continued life. He loved Luna, his children, his happy home in the countryside with a forest in the backyard, his job and his friends. Ron and Hermione had their own children they sent off, and they talked about how different it was to stay on Platform 9 3/4 as the Hogwarts Express departed.

All his life, evil had been haunting and chasing him, and finally, he could sit still and enjoy the impossible amounts of good in his life.

He retired from being an Auror at age 70 to teach Defense at Hogwarts. He was teaching there long enough to see a few of his grandchildren come in, then graduate. He was wrinkled, but he refused to have an unkempt (Dumbledore-ish) beard. He and Luna would take vacations to mountains in China, or dragon reservations in Bulgaria, or New York City. During the summer, there was at least one family reunion, filling their house with more noise and laughter and blonde or black heads of hair than ever before.

His death came rather suddenly at age 92. Car crash, believe it or not. All he knew leading up to that moment was that the busy London street was full of life and he was much too old. There was a car horn, then pain, then blackness.

 

~~~

 

Of course, the Doctor’s solution to sadness was to save the world.

“No, you can’t _make_ the Carmack do anything, except blow up the tower!” he yelled into the walkie-talkie.

Kristine, on the other end, was trying to make a large, slug-like alien get into the protective cage before it became stressed and literally exploded. The only problem is, it causes millions of sparks to fly everywhere, and potential to set the _air_ on fire. The fire would kill everyone within a kilometer. The last the Doctor had seen, it was already sparking on the surface of its skin.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was trying desperately to talk down the nearly nonsensical time-traveler who brought the Carmack to blow up this tower, because someone in the future had a great-great-great-grandmother who worked two floors below. This was a very poor parody of the Terminator, when you consider that there was Carmack slime all over him and he had a sonic screwdriver instead of a machine gun.

“You’re not well, Michael. Your Vortex Manipulator is broken, and you spent too much time lost in the Vortex. We can get you help, we can--”

“It doesn’t matter! This is a fact. Darin ruined my life, and the lives of millions. I watched my mother die. He doesn’t even deserve to die, he deserves nothing!” Michael slapped the conference room table, raising his voice to a yell.

The Doctor tried to think about what he knew of the 23rd century. The only instance where millions were left devastated was when America’s west coast had a long-overdue earthquake, and that was a natural disaster. Nothing that this Darin could have caused. “Michael, what are you talking about?”

“Darin is the one who created that research facility in New York. Nuclear energy, something experimental. My mother was working there, and she was vaporized the instant his monstrosity went wrong. It blew up the entire northeast U.S. Tell me that doesn’t warrant my judgment! Tell me I’m wrong!”

Suddenly, he understood. It was the anger towards the Daleks, the fury and hate and boiling blood beating in his two hearts. He knew what this man felt, and he still didn’t know what to say to him. He may understand, but what words of comfort or mercy could he offer? He hadn’t yet found words for himself. There was nothing to it, but to distract yourself.

The Doctor walked over to Michael, and wrapped his arms around the man’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Michael.”

Michael was shaking, whether from fury or grief or both. More importantly, though, he did not fight it.

“Your mother didn’t deserve that. You didn’t deserve it. No one deserved that. Even _Darin_ didn’t deserve it.”

“He didn’t care. All he wanted was—“

“No one can see the loss of millions and feel nothing. All those people and their families suffered, it’s no stretch to think that he suffered as well.”

Michael wrapped his arms around the Doctor, and buried his face in his shoulder (despite the slime. At least the slime smelled a little like roses, or maybe closer to a rose made of burnt rubber). The grip on his tweed jacket felt too tight, but the Doctor was not going to argue now.

“Don’t you think you’ve suffered enough? Hasn’t everybody suffered enough?” As the words left him, he felt the done-deep exhaustion. All this fighting, for what? “Your mother may be dead, but she would have wanted you to move on, Michael. Live happily, not live to exact revenge.”

The change in his breathing seemed to resemble sobs. The Doctor stroked his back, trying to project emotions of kindness and calm. There was no point to be a low-level empath unless he used it, after all.

“Doctor!” the walkie-talkie screamed, jarring him from the hug and the emotional projection. “Doctor—ow!—Doctor, the Carmack is freaking out! I can’t get it to calm down!”

 

 ~~~

 

In all his years, Harry had of course wondered what death would look like this time around. He had pictured Dumbledore and a pure white Kings Cross Station. He also pictured something dark, but warm, a place where he could connect with his loved ones and be at peace.

Instead, he stood on a bridge in the middle of a thick forest. The wide below river was loud and powerful, and something about it felt hungry yet hypnotizing. The bridge, on the other hand, seemed to be just as strong, made from sturdy old wood. Even the nails hasn’t rusted yet. The contrast was nearly unreal, and something close to beautiful.

Harry saw his hands as he gripped the bridge’s railing. They were not his bony hands, spotted with age. He seemed to be young again, just barely reaching adulthood.

 _“I hope you do not mind the change in scenery.”_ Harry whipped around to see a cloaked figure, face covered, and floating. Black tendrils of his cloak fluttered in the wind, and hands of white bone peeked from the folds.

“Who are you?”

The raspy whisper continued. The speech didn’t seem to come from the figure, but rather, simply sounding inside his head. _“I suppose introductions are in order. I am Death, and you, Harry Potter, are my master.”_

Of all things, he had not been expecting that. “What?”

_“You have the three Hallows, yes? They belong to you, and with it, the title of Master of Death.”_

“That’s just a children’s story. It wasn’t supposed to be real. I even tried to get rid of them!”

 _“And yet, here we are.”_ The hand gestured towards their surroundings. With a start, Harry realized exactly where they were.

“This is where the Peverell brothers built their bridge, and bested you.”

Death made a noise that sounded like it could be a hiss or a laugh. _“Indeed.”_

Harry inspected his surroundings closer. The forest looked older than Hogwarts itself. The trees were so thick and tall, it was impossible to see far in. What was in there? Was it his afterlife?

“So, er…what now?”

Death did that noise again (maybe a chuckle?), and floated closer to Harry. _“You have options, being the Master of Death. You may choose to live, or die. Live, and you will awaken in a new world, with new people and unknown adventures. Die, and be reunited with your loved ones, and take a different kind of adventure with them. Another will take the title of Master in time.”_ The response seemed concise, like he had thought long and hard of what to say. Perhaps he had. After all, Harry had taken a while to die once the war was over.

“What kind of a new world?”

_“Something entirely different. No one and nothing you’ve known in your life will exist in this new life. It will be a fresh start, in a place where you are needed.”_

There was a pang of mourning, knowing that he would not see Luna and the children until they too had crossed over. Is this what all parents felt, as they left their loved ones behind in their death? Is this was Mum and Dad felt?

The next realization hit him then. He could be reunited with his parents, Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, and those who had died along the way. His heart nearly ached at the thought. He knew life and happiness without them, certainly, but he had depended on these people for love and support. They were, and always will be, a part of him. Clearly, death was the choice he favored, and he was about to say it.

Yet a part of him fought his instant response. A truly new world, somewhere he could go and find new adventures and new friends. It had been long since he had done something like it, perhaps not since his Auror days. His body felt literally decades younger, and the fire for adventure burned within him. And as Death had said, he would be ‘in a place where he was needed.’ The living still needed him, somewhere out there, and he could help.

Hermione would point out, around now, that he had something of a hero complex. Well, sue him, he was the Savior of the Wizarding World, and Hermione wasn’t here to stop him.

“I want to live.”

Death nodded slowly. _“Excellent choice,_ Master.”

“Somehow, I sense my title is being mocked.” Harry tried to suppress a grin, but a bit peeked out anyways.

There was that noise again. It must be something like a laugh, for Death. Perhaps it sounded insidious simply because he did not do it often. _“You sense correctly.”_

“Would this be something like reincarnation? Am I being born again?”

_“No. This place freezes your body and soul in the time-space continuum. Besides, there are too many souls to spare a birth for you.”_

“I’m frozen?!” Something about that sounded dangerous.

Death made a noise like a sigh. _“You’re simply put in stasis. You will not age, or die, unless you want to. Call it a perk.”_

Harry looked down at his body. Hopefully, this body was mature enough to grow a beard. He rather missed the one he sported as he grew older.

 _“Any other questions? I really must return to my work.”_ If Death itself could be annoyed and impatient, it would sound like that.

“No.”

 _“Good.”_ A hand pointed towards Harry’s left. _“That way will lead you towards your destination. This world is quite different from yours, but I suggest you find the Doctor.”_

“A doctor?” How random.

_“Farewell. May your soul find peace.”_

And with that, Death faded into nothingness.

Harry stared at the river for a moment. This river had killed hundreds before the Peverells came along, and vanquished Death. Harry had done that same thing, twice, and counting this new revival, a third.

With a sigh, and a muttered “right,” he walked towards the left. Into something new. Merlin help him.

 

~~~

 

The last thing that Harry expected upon stepping from the bridge onto the ground was to suddenly find himself in a dark room with metal walls, and a giant slug being coaxed by a short red-head into a reinforced cage. The room smelled like burnt rubber. He looked back, almost expecting to see the bridge again, but it was gone, along with the sounds of the deadly river. “What the hell?”

The woman, who was half covered in a light orange slime, jerked her head to look at him. “Who are you? How did you get in here?!”

“I asked first.”

“Oh my god, just…” The woman sighed. “Just keep out of sight, or something smart. It’s deaf, but if it sees you, it’ll go beserk, and probably kill us all.” She did a surprisingly good job of ignoring him after that, and continuing to guide the slug into the cage. Upon looking closer, Harry noticed pinpricks of light dancing across the surface of its skin. Occasionally, bits of those lights would jump out and disappear in a green flash.

Harry pursed his lips, and stayed where he stood. After all, the giant slug looked unpleasant and somewhat dangerous, so staying still seemed a smart choice. His career as an Auror had taught him that sometimes, it was best to wait and let others take over. Besides, it was a good chance for him to take inventory.

On his ring finger was the cold metal of the Gaunt Ring. It gleamed silver, even in the dim lights. On the top was the Soul Stone, black and haunting. He had last seen it when he summoned his loved ones as he walked to his death. There had been plenty of time in his life to process that experience, but it still made a painful memory. He took it off, and shoved it deep in his pocket.

Already in his pocket, however, was the Invisibility Cloak, folded into a small, light triangle. At least he wanted this one. It was familiar, being a part of him since his childhood. The silky cloth felt unreal in his hands. He returned it to his pocket, hoping that it would serve him well, as it once did.

His other pocket held a wand. He half hoped that it was his holly-and-phoenix-feather, but he wasn’t surprised to pull out the Elder Wand. The wand vibrated with magic at his touch. It felt eager to use its power and prove itself to its master. He had felt this when he first held this wand, all those years ago. It felt disturbing then, and it still did now.

The slug across the room made a groaning noise, and more of the lights shot rapidly from its skin. One hit the woman on her arm, causing her sleeve to smolder. “Ow! What the hell?”

“What’s it doing?”

“It wants to blow up and set us on fire, that's what! Shit!” She tried to continue leading the slug, but the sparking only grew faster and more violent. It wasn’t moving now. Suddenly, Harry realized the danger they were in.

She didn’t look at Harry, instead pulling a walkie-talkie from her pocket. “Doctor! Doctor—ow!—Doctor, the Carmack is freaking out! I can’t get it to calm down!”

“I’ll be right there!” a voice replied.

“But what about Michael?”

“He’s safe now, he isn’t going anywhere.”

Harry gripped his wand tighter. The air felt thick and tense. There were lives at stake here, and his newly young body felt a familiar urge to fight. Again with that hero complex Hermione had always pointed out. It took effort, but he stood his ground. The woman knew more than he did about this creature, and it could be disastrous if Harry made even an accidental mistake. At least help was coming.

A door to his right slammed open, and in burst a skinny man with a tweed jacket and waving a metal wand(?) that lit green at the end. He was covered nearly head-to-toe in the same orange slime as the woman. The man scanned the room and locked eyes with Harry. “Who are you?”

“He just showed up” the woman responded for him. “No idea, mate. Carmack first.” The sparks were flying faster and faster after the man’s entrance. Harry gripped his wand tighter in his hand.

“Okay, let me see.” He pointed his wand at the alien. It made a rather strange sound. He seemed to analyze something on the side of the wand, and declared “we should have at least 4 minutes before it reaches dangerous levels.” Was this what magic was like in this world? Would Harry’s magic even work?

The tension in Harry’s body redirected towards curiosity. Certainly Death would not send him to a world where his magic did not work. Harry silently cast a simple detection charm, normally used to find natural sources of magic, such as magical creatures or wizards.

The charm told him that the slug was an extremely sensitive magical source. Harry barely had time to think ‘oh _no_ ’ before the slug _screamed_. Both the man and woman stared in horror as the cursed sound consumed the air in the room, its skin showering sparks, and seeming to disappear within the light.

“Hurry, move the cage closer!”

The man and woman snapped into action, pushing the cage in the corner with all their might. The cage scraped along the floor at an agonizingly slow rate. As the slug continued to pop with sparks, a few landed on the trail of slime and began to burn green. It reminded him of fiendfyre. “They’re not going to make in time” Harry breathed, gripping his wand. The flame was quickly growing, following the trail the slug had left behind. Both the man and the woman were trying to avoid the sparks as they got closer, but some caught on the man’s sleeve, and was quickly overtaking his arm in flame.

Magically sensitive or not, Harry had to help. “Protegio!”

A stream of faint golden light burst forth from his wand, and flew across the room to form a barrier around the slug. It was a modification to the normal ‘Protego’ Harry had learned a while back. If the enemy was a wizard, they could cast spells through it, but it would keep their physical form locked in place. The slug still groaned and exploded with sparks, but more importantly, the sparks were blocked. The slug or its fire wasn’t going anywhere.

“What? I mean...how?!”

Harry looked over to see the man beyond shocked. His jaw had dropped, he was gesticulating wildly without making a sound. He was still covered in slime, and his sleeve was on fire. He didn’t seem to notice it as he started to grip his hair with a hand. Harry took the liberty of casting an extinguishing spell on his sleeve, before the poor man (who hadn’t seem to notice the extinguishing either) lost his jacket to the flames.

The woman, however, looked too tired to care. “Honestly, this isn’t even the weirdest thing I’ve seen today” she muttered, falling to the ground and leaning against the wall. The slug’s groaning started to fade, and its form had shrunken to half its original size.

With an inhale, the man calmed himself. “Who did you say you were?” His voice was much deeper, now that he wasn’t panicked. The way he stood changed into something resembling determination and captivation.

“I never said. But my name is Harry, now that you ask.”

“So sorry, that was very rude of me, wasn’t it? You’ll have to forgive me, since I was busy with the Carmack at the time.” Harry wasn’t sure how much of that was sarcasm. The words and tone seemed genuine, and the man was smiling. A bit whimsical, reminding him of Dumbledore. “Thank you very much for your help, Harry.”

Harry shrugged. “I should be the one apologizing. I’m the one who set it off, after all.”

 “Excuse me?” His eyebrows raised, though there wasn’t much eyebrow for him to raise.

“My magic set it off. It was sensitive, and obviously panicked when it sensed me using it.”

“Yes, that was going to be my next question. Magic? Is that what you did?”

“I just said it was.”

“Right. Of course. Magic.” The man nodded, and clasped his hands together. The smile he was attempting seemed forced, yet distracted, like he was trying to figure an explanation for Harry’s abilities. Perhaps there simply was no magic here, if it surprised the man this much.

Harry pocketed his wand, a movement that caught the man’s eye. He didn’t immediately comment on it. “Sorry,” Harry began hesitantly. “I didn’t get your name either.”

“I’m the Doctor.”

“Doctor who?” Harry said the words, and suddenly felt an extreme sense of déjà vu. It felt like he should have been working in the kitchen at the Dursley’s while the TV was going on in the background.

The man—Doctor smiled in response. “Just the Doctor.”

_“I suggest you find the Doctor.”_

It seems that Harry had come across the man Death told him to find.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My 14-year old sister approved this one again. Again, I'm not sure if that means anything to you.

“So, I don’t suppose you could tell where I am and what day it is.”

Kristine had left the first chance she got, saying a quick thanks to the Doctor before rushing to find her sister somewhere in the building. It was Harry asking, and this question just complicated things further.

First of all, magic? Sure, he had seen magic in the past. The witches in Shakespeare’s time had given ample evidence supporting the possibility. But this young man, perhaps no older than 20, had waved a literal wand, created a physical barrier from nothing, and breaking a few laws of physics with a single incantation. This was something he had never seem the likes of. Where did he learn this?

And now, to make matters worse, Harry just asked for the time and place he was. Did this make him a time traveler? Or was he coming out of a fugue state? Or, Rassilon forbid, did he just wind up here because of magic gone wrong? Either way, there was absolutely no reason for Harry to _want_ to be here, 2015 London in an experimental facility. Unless…there was something bigger that the Doctor didn’t know of yet. Perhaps it was the crack in space-time again, spitting out things that didn’t belong.

He just hoped it wasn’t something new. Something that would come back again and again, haunting and chasing him until it nearly killed him.

“London, June 2015. This is a physics laboratory facility.”

Harry smiled. He had such green eyes. The Doctor could barely read an expression for how distracting they were. Something like amusement, maybe. “Normally when someone asks the day, you respond with ‘Thursday’ or ‘the 22nd.’”

Oh damn. He should not have assumed Harry was a time traveler. Maybe he wasn’t a time traveler, and he was just forgetful. But that still didn’t explain how he gained access into a floor of the building that was on complete lockdown. No elevators or stairs would allow people in or out, once Michael had entered.

The Doctor gasped. “I forgot about Michael.” He turned and nearly ran into the door in his hurry to get back to Michael. The man had been emotionally unstable all day, and only barely recovered enough to disengage from his destructive plans. There’s no telling what could happen if he was left alone for too long.

“Michael!” the Doctor shouted by way of greeting as he entered. Michael was sitting in a chair, appearing too tired to return the greeting. “Michael, good to see you. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“Why am I here?” he asked in a weak voice. “I don’t…I thought my mom had been killed in an explosion, but that didn’t happen.”

“What do you mean?” Had the time spent in the Vortex messed with his memories?

Michael sat up, and the Doctor noticed that his pale skin had evened out into something healthier. His eyes weren’t as dilated, his pulse wasn’t visibly jumping. All good signs. But…something was off, something not visible, something he could sense in the air around him.

“I remember two lives. One where my mother died in the explosion, and one where she didn’t. For a while there, I only knew the one where she died, and I was so angry. I landed here and knew what to do.

“But now I…I remember both.” Michael looked up into the Doctor’s eyes, tears in his eyes. “I don’t remember which one is real.”

His stomach dropped.

At least it wasn’t a paradox, otherwise he’d have sensed it sooner. Small blessings. With a gulp, the Doctor tried to maintain a calm voice. “Michael, I think you may have passed through an alternate universe, and somehow absorbed your alternate life’s memories.” If the Doctor was right, then there was no telling the damage it had done to Michael’s sanity, and what other kind of abnormalities could exist in the Vortex.

Michael clenched his jaw. “How?”

“I don’t know. Travelling in the Vortex without a safe vessel can cause anomalies like this. Your vortex manipulator malfunctioned, so you were in there for too long and increased your chances of coming across a fault.” The Doctor took the seat next to Michael’s. He was awkward in general, but he put a hand on Michael’s shoulder in hopes of giving comfort. Again, a bit of calm flowed through him and into Michael to combat the panic. The tension in his shoulders relaxed slightly.

Michael rubbed his hand across his face. “Doctor, which one is real?”

The Doctor didn’t have an answer. The disaster that had killed him mom wasn’t in the history books, but who knows if Michael exaggerated the death toll. There was no telling which one was real, and which came from the another universe. If the Doctor were to take him back to his original time, then which life would he be returning to?

The somber silence was broken by Harry’s voice “Does it matter?” He stood at the doorway, his arms crossed and leaning against the doorway. How much of the conversation did he hear? And, more importantly, why did he follow the Doctor?

“Who are you?” Michael asked sharply.

“Why is everyone so interested in that?” Harry sighed. He walked to sit at a seat across the table from Michael. “I’m Harry. A friend of his.” Harry gestured to the Doctor.

“What? I’m—“ The Doctor was interrupted by a sharp glare from Harry.

Harry placed a hand over Michael’s and squeezed slightly. Michael seemed to calm more. Could Harry be another empath? Or was Michael just sensitive to touch in general?

“First of all, I think it’s bloody brilliant that you have two lifetime’s worth of knowledge. Makes you twice as wise.” Michael gave a small smile at that. “Secondly, you can return to your life and pick up right where you left off, whether or not your mum had died. A friend of mine once told me that my parents had me because they wanted to give me a good, happy life. I’m sure that the same applies to your mom and you.”

The Doctor agreed with everything that Harry said. They were the exact right words Michael seemed to need. Tears were falling down Michael’s cheeks once again, except this time, he had a smile. A sad smile, sure, but a smile nonetheless. “You’re right.” His voice was thick and broke slightly.

“Now,” the Doctor began, shifting the attention to himself. “Can you promise me that, no matter what life you return to, you’ll do your absolute best to enjoy it?”

Michael laughed. “Sure, but only if you can take me home now.”

“That’s the spirit!” The Doctor slapped his shoulder and stood up. “Right this way, then.”

 

~~~

 

The Doctor hadn’t noticed Harry following him. Again. What was he doing that made him so sneaky?!

Either way, he had to put a stop to it.

“No.”

“Why?”

“You are not coming on the TARDIS.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so.”

“That’s not a real reason.”

“Yes it is! I won’t let you, so you can’t!”

“You’re letting Michael in,” Harry replied, gesturing to Michael.

“Because I’m taking him home. I’m not taking _you_ anywhere.”

“Why not?”

The Doctor felt the rising urge to scream. He directed the frustration towards clenching his fists. What on earth did Harry want? Why must it involve the Doctor?!

“Because you are a stranger, I don’t know you, and I don’t trust you.”

Harry put his hands up in mock surrender. “Sorry. Didn’t realize that helping you save the day was an offence. I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

“There will _not_ be a next time!”

“You don’t know that.” There was a stupid, knowing smile on his face. Damn that smile. What did it mean? What did Harry know that he didn’t?

“Michael, let’s go.” The Doctor didn’t break eye contact with Harry as he stepped into the TARDIS. The door closed (slammed) behind them and blocked Harry from sight. Thank Rassilon Harry didn’t try to do something irritating like knock on the door and/or yell.

“Alright” he said with a long sigh. “Off to 23rd century England.”

 

 ~~~

 

The Doctor felt lonely in the TARDIS. Without the Ponds, it felt like his very being was empty.

So the logical next step, of course, was to visit a volcano planet in a dusty old heat-suit of questionable durability.

“Gotta say,” he said to himself. “This place was a lot nicer when the people lived near the inactive volcanos. Why did they have to graduate to living near the magma rivers?”

This society of Mazdl who lived in this area were much better at handling heat than most species. They used the magma rivers to generate energy, both from the mechanical flow of the river, and the heat generated. It made for an extremely high-powered culture. The Doctor had enjoyed the day he spent there among the Mazdl.

What was he doing now, you ask?

Of course, it was his turn to save the world again. He was climbing the local inactive volcano, called Yakrakshee, to access their satellite energy reserves. The Mazdl couldn’t handle the temperatures here. It was like sending someone from the Caribbean to Antarctica. One of the Mazdl was accompanying him, a scout trained in cold weather travel. The tall alien had thick, dark blue skin, wrapped in the hides of large reptiles keeping him warm.

“How close are we now?”

The scout, named Var, grunted. “Another couple minutes climb and we’ll be there.” Thank Rassilon, it was bloody hot in this heat suit.

Sure enough, they reached the edge of the volcano. Below was a complex system of tubes filled with liquidized lithium. The energy stored in those tubes would keep essential functions in the Mazdl city working until their power systems got back online. Someone had sabotage the system badly enough to shut the entire thing down. All of the Mazdl were desperately trying to repair the damage done, leaving the Doctor to help connect the city to its older energy reserves.

“Hey, there you are! Throw down your transmitter bit, I’ll get it set up for you!”

Both Var and the Doctor stared down in shock. Already situated within the tubing network was a man, too short and too pale to be a Mazdl, waving and smiling. And if the Doctor wasn’t wrong, that was—“Harry! How on earth did you get down here?!”

“It’s a long story. Just throw down the thingy!”

“What?! I’m not going to throw it down! Last I saw, you were being annoying in London!”

Var beside him sighed. “So this is the one they mentioned was wandering on the plains.”

“What?” the Doctor asked in shocked.

“A small, white one was spotted wandering aimlessly on the plains until he disappeared into an inactive volcano. I didn’t expect it to be this one though.”

“I’m waaaiiiitiiiiing!”

“So am I!” the Doctor snapped back at Harry.

“What are _you_ waiting for? I’d much rather see their city up and running, wouldn’t you?”

This made the absolute least sense. Of anything. Ever. Questions were flying a mile a minute within the Doctor’s head. It was difficult to choose just one, especially when Harry was pressuring him. Maybe the more important question was how he knew what the Doctor was trying to do?

“Well, let’s get down there. I doubt he knows what he’s connecting where.” Var began making the precarious climb down.

“I heard that! And I know exactly what! I heard the engineers explain it to you!”

Var audibly rolled his four eyes. The motion made a few clicking sounds that the Doctor caught as he followed. “He makes even less sense than you. You know him?”

“Barely” the Doctor responded.

“What’s he doing here?”

“I don’t know.” The Doctor had to focus on these next couple steps, so he couldn’t give more of an answer. Not that he had more of an answer.

“Why is he helping?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is he a scientist like you?”

“He’s a wizard. For all I know, he could also be a ghost in his spare time.”

“Is he dangerous?”

“I don’t know!” the Doctor yelled. “I told you, I barely know him. Whatever you ask next, the answer is probably going to be ‘I don’t know.’” He sighed dramatically, his exhale seeming to warm his heat suit more. Damn it was hot.

Var didn’t ask anything until they got to the volcano’s floor. Now that Harry was close, he could see that Harry wasn’t even wearing a protective heat suit. Was he even human?!

“You seem to appear at the strangest times” the Doctor said, narrowing his eyes. To that, Harry smiled.

“Oh, come on. Can’t you see that it’s fate bringing us together?” Harry burst out laughing after his own ‘joke.’

At least Var seemed ready to move on. “Alright, Doctor, hand me the transmitter booster.”

“No, the engineers told _me_ connect it. I’ve got this.”

“Doctor, I’ve been messing around this technology since I was a babe. I think it’s safe with me.”

This was suspicious. The engineers at the Mazdl city told him to do it himself, since they didn’t know who they could trust. Why was Var being so stubborn?

“No, just point me to where it goes, and I’ll do it.”

“Oh, it’s over here” Harry interjected. His finger pointed towards the left side, where an entrance led him through the meters-tall tubes.

“How do you know that?!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“I’m literally a wizard. Magic.” He waved his fingertips to illustrate the word.

Var shook his head, and pointed forward to the entrance closest to them. “I memorized the map. We are to go this way.”

“No, that way will take you to a dozen dead ends.”

Rassilon, this was confusing. It was like picking the lesser of two evils, trying to pick which one to trust. On the one hand, Harry was stubbornly inexplicable, omniscient, and just straight annoying. Yet he had helped when he was needed, back on Earth. On the other hand, Var was couldn’t be the traitor the Mazdl were looking for. He had many opportunities to sabotage the Doctor’s journey here. But there was something about the desperation in Var’s eyes and voice…

Time was wasting, so the Doctor had to go with his gut. After all, when had it been wrong?

(Many, many times. But he lived a long life, and statistically speaking, the accuracy rate was over 80%. That was good enough, right?)

“Alright, Harry, let’s get going.” The Doctor hurried over to the entrance Harry had pointed out. The wizard waited patiently for his approach, giving Var a suspicious and hostile glare.

“Doctor, he is wrong. What if he is the saboteur? He could potentially be misleading you. You do not know this man.”

His suspicions were only reinforced with Var’s words. No one who was innocent would protest this way. Var had not accused Harry of anything, but suggested Harry was guilty, leaving the Doctor to agree with him. He had even appealed to the fact that the Doctor did not know Harry well. The word choice was too manipulative and calculated to be genuine.

“Well, Var, maybe he knows something we don’t. I’m willing to follow him.”

“How about you give me the transmitter, since you seem so insistent on following a fool. I will do it myself if I must.” Var held out a long arm, his pincer-like fingers almost twitching with tension. His expression had turned angry, and his voice sharp.

Well now, there was no way the Doctor was going to hand it over. It seemed Var was a moment from attacking them. If he were to chase them, they wouldn’t be able to outrun him for long.

Which means they’d better start now.

“Run.”

The Doctor grabbed Harry’s hand through his heat suit, and pulled him into the maze of giant tubes. After a couple near-stumbles, Harry began to run in earnest with the Doctor.

There was a junction up ahead of them. “Which way?”

“Left.”

The pounding footsteps of Var’s tall form were following close behind. The hard black ground was rough and uneven, nearly tripping them on multiple occasions. They did not slow as they turned the corner. They did not let each other’s hands go, either.

“Straight.”

“Right.”

The Doctor obeyed Harry’s orders. His hearts were pounding in his chest, and any thoughts he had were focused on making sure he did not trip. Well, a couple were spared to notice that Var was now within sight, in the corner of his eye.

“There!” Harry yelled. The control panel the Doctor wanted was straight ahead, so close. “You keep going!” Harry’s hand then wretched away from his, and he stopped running.

“What?” The Doctor slowed, turning to see Harry in an attack position, facing away from him. A wand was out, gripped tight in his hand. The knots in the wood seemed out of place, not meant to be decorative. Its color was nearly black in the dim light.

“Magic, remember?”

Harry was in danger. He didn’t know about the Mazdl’s ability to exhale toxic gas, or their extraordinary hand-to-hand combat skills.  “But-“

It was then that Var rounded the corner.

Harry did not jump or step back in shock. This man had clearly been in enough fights to stand his ground. He held up his wand against the Mazdl traitor. “Petrificus Totalus!”

A faint light shot from the end of the wand, directly toward Var. Once the light hit him, he completely froze up. Literally. Well, not quite literally, since the man wasn’t covered in frost, but instead his limbs were locked. The way his knees bent and his arms pointed behind him looked uncomfortable. After a pause, the statue that had been Var fell to the ground.

Up until now, the Doctor had a thousand questions to ask Harry. Now, he had just one.

“Why couldn’t you have done that earlier?!”

Harry turned towards the Doctor. The roll of his eyes was practically audible. “Because you’re the one that took us off running without warning.”

“I did not!”

“Sorry, but a half-second alert before taking off isn’t exactly enough time for me to say ‘Hey, let me just incapacitate the Mazdl real quick, then you and I can walk calmly to the control panel.’ And I didn’t want you getting lost once we were in here.”

“I-“ the Doctor started, but stopped himself. He didn’t really have an argument to that.

Harry ran his hand through his hair. The wand had been put away into a pocket. Now that he looked, Harry seemed to be wearing the same clothes as he did in London 2015.

That could wait. Right now, the Doctor needed that signal booster connected, and the city up and running again. He turned towards the control panel, and began entering the password. The password? ‘password.’ Some things didn’t change across time and species. He instantly began unlocking and activating energy transmission channels. The computer-like control system was somewhat difficult to navigate, but luckily, he had worked with their earlier software.

“Your suit looks rather uncomfortable,” Harry commented, suddenly behind him. Or maybe he had been there a while, after the Doctor got lost in concentration. It made him jump slightly.

“It is. But it’s more comfortable than trying to walk around in 250°C! If anyone should be uncomfortable, it’s you.”

“Magic.”

The Doctor ground his teeth together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has earned the Sister Seal of Approval. Please enjoy.

All things ended well. Harry delivered Var to the Council, and unfroze him. The energy reserves were in use, and energy production should go back to normal in a few days. Thankfully, no one had died while the power was out. The Doctor bid them farewell with a ‘thank you,’ and received a hundred ‘thank you’s in return.

Just like last time, Harry followed him to the TARDIS. Even as the Doctor went to open the door, he seemed intent on following the Doctor all the way inside.

“I am not having this argument with you again.”

“Oh, Merlin. Okay, let me come along, and I’ll answer all your questions.”

The Doctor squinted at Harry. He had proven himself to be trustworthy in times of need. Even a paranoid man could see that, but a paranoid man would also note that his motives were still unclear. And the Doctor was a paranoid man. Unfortunately, he was also a curious man, and it caused something of an internal argument in him. Harry just had to be so damn difficult.

“Answer me one question first.”

Harry shrugged, seeming casual. “Alright.”

“What is your real name?”

There was a power in one’s name. The Doctor would not say his to anyone, it would put himself and others at risk. In Time Lord culture, giving your name was a sign of trust.

After the initial surprise, Harry squinted his eyes for a split second. Suspicion. Perhaps Harry had as much to reason to be wary of the Doctor than the Doctor had of him. This hadn’t stopped the wizard before, so why now?

And why didn’t he have a plethora of questions to ask the Doctor? The Doctor hadn’t offered any explanation for anything, from the sonic screwdriver to the bow tie, and Harry had not questioned a single thing. Why?

“Okay. I guess it’s only fair. My name’s Harry James Potter.” He held a hand and gave a sarcastically polite smile. “Nice to meet you.”

The Doctor shook it after a moment’s hesitation. It was such a normal name for a strange man. But he gave it anyways, and the Doctor knew it was his true name. It was hard to explain this feeling of certainty, except as an instinctual recognition that came from his Time Lord background, where the power of a name was ingrained in him. This name seemed more powerful than most. It could mean that Harry was important to everyone, or worse, important to just the Doctor.

The gloves of the heat suit blocked the feeling of their handshake, but the gesture’s meaning was not lost. This was something like a truce, all prejudice and evasiveness aside.

Their hands released, and the Doctor turned towards the door, and pushed it open.

“It says pull to open.”

“Come inside before I change my mind.”

 

~~~

 

Harry had walked into tents that were bigger on the inside, so this was nothing new. His lack of fascination must’ve been frustrating to the Doctor, since he muttered something about ‘damn magic, the excuse for everything.’ The Doctor took off his large heat suit, which had been an unflattering shade of orange. Honestly, he could have blended in with the lava with that thing. Or into Luna’s wardrobe.

The thought of Luna made him clench his jaw. Evangeline, Thalia, Marc, Aquila, Damian. All the grandchildren. Ron and Hermione. It had been less than a day since he died in his home world, lost all his people and his home. The feeling of longing seemed a chasm in his heart, fresh and wide, impossibly deep. This was a new place with new people, but none of it his.

Perhaps it was just now hitting him. His own death was so sudden that it had taken him almost a day to realize it. Harry should have been expecting the shock to wear off.

His vision was blurry with tears, he noticed. One escaped before he could stop it.

“So! This is the Time and Relative Dimension in Space, or as I like to call her, TARDIS.”

Harry wiped at his eyes quickly, before the Doctor could notice. “Looks more like a spaceship.” He blinked a couple times before turning to face the Doctor. The man was staring at him. “What?”

“Are you okay?”

Shit, he could tell Harry had been crying. “Yeah, fine. You were saying?” When in doubt, just distract and move on. (Harry knew it prolonged grief, but he didn’t feel ready to start unpacking everything when he had just met the Doctor.)

“I, uh…” He seemed thrown off for a moment, but snapped back into his normal energetic self. “I like to think of her as a home. The TARDIS is quite capable, and can take you anywhere in time and space.”

Harry had to quietly sniff up some of the thin snot running in his nose. He nodded. “And I assume you’re an alien.”

“Yes, actually.” That threw him off once again. Apparently the Doctor was easily distracted, and thought over every one of Harry’s actions. “I’m a Time Lord.”

TARDIS. Time Lord. This sounded familiar, and brought back that same déjà vu from earlier. He felt like he knew this information already, but was only recalling it after he learned it. Maybe he was just losing it.

“Hang on, I’m supposed to be asking the questions.”

“Alright, shoot.” Harry grinned, and took a seat across from the TARDIS’s controls. “What do you want to know?”

 

~~~ 

 

“You mean to say to me, that you transported yourself into the Time Vortex, and physically held onto the TARDIS, and landed with me.”

“Well, I’m not sure what the Time Vortex is, but it felt similar to apparation, so I didn’t think much of it.”

The Doctor wanted to pull his hair out. The last time someone had done that, the TARDIS freaked out, and he had ended up at the end of the universe. This time, the TARDIS didn’t even notice that they had a ride-along passenger. “Explain apparation to me.”

“Hm. Well, I imagine where I want to be, and my magic will transport me to where I want. It always feels like you’re being squeezed through a tight tube, while moving at impossibly fast speeds. You arrive at your destination almost instantly.”

Harry had to be lying. He just described direct 4th dimensional travel. When considering time as the 4th dimension and space as the 3rd, 4th dimensional travel usually entailed some sort of movement through time. The Time Vortex was like a highway or a shortcut when travelling in the 4th dimensional direction, meaning it took much less energy and engineering to travel through time. But Harry wasn’t arriving at different 4th dimensional points, or else he’d be time travelling. If Harry wasn’t lying, apparition was latitudinal 4th dimensional travel; using the 4th dimension for 3rd dimensional travel within an infinitely short time. And it was powered by magic?!

At the very least, it was a grievous misuse of 4th dimensional travel. “That must use up a lot of energy. Or, I guess, a lot of magic.”

“Not really. It took some getting used to. If you aren’t focused, you end up leaving behind a leg or something. But once you learn it, it hardly bothers you.”

And there were instances where you could leave behind a part of your own 3-dimensional body! Before moving through the 4th dimension! This should have killed Harry long ago.

Harry seemed amused at the Doctor’s expressions, since he was trying to hold back a grin. “I suppose you’re a tad overwhelmed.”

That was one way to describe it. “I mean, the spell casting, I understand. You can do anything with the right application of the right kind of energy. That holds true across the universe. I’m okay with the use of a magic wand. I’m even cool with you being from another universe, I’ve hopped a couple alternative universes myself. But apparation?! You talk about it like it’s no big deal! That’s an incredible manipulation of space-time, and it takes others thousands, no, millions of years to master, and entire stars’ worth of energy to accomplish. And you say you learned it as a 16 year old.” The Doctor threw up his hands in exasperation.

“Oh, ask me more questions. Apparation isn’t even the weirdest thing.”

“Then what _is_ the weirdest thing?”

Harry skewed his mouth in thought. How many ‘things’ were running through his head? Did any more of them break the laws of physics? The Doctor sighed, putting his head in his hands. Did wizards hold none of the natural laws sacred? Did they consider them mere suggestions?

“Never mind. I wouldn’t like it, would I?”

“Nope,” Harry said popping the p. He gave the Doctor a look. “I think we’re done for the day, you seem like you need time to process. You wouldn’t have any food on your TARDIS, would you? I’m famished.”

That’s right. Harry was a human, and humans needed regular amounts of food. When did Harry last eat? He seemed like he couldn’t afford to lose the weight. It was difficult to tell if he was an underweight adult or a teen on the tail end of puberty. Either way, the TARDIS would provide him food that was tailored to his nutritional needs.

“Yes, up those stairs, down the hall, fourth door on your left, then take the left side hall and it’ll be on your right.”

“…How big is this place?”

“Very.”

 

~~~

 

Never let it be said that the TARDIS was too small. There had been a dozen different bedrooms he passed by on his way to the kitchen. One even had his initials next to it, with a small image of a triangle with a circle inscribed, and a line through the middle. Harry had already guessed that the TARDIS was sentient, but apparently, it already knew more than he told the Doctor. He wasn’t planning on spilling about the whole ‘Master of Death’ thing, so hopefully, the TARDIS wasn’t about to communicate it to the Doctor.

And the kitchen was ridiculously well stocked. There had been fruits he had never seen, and some sort of sweet bean paste that he ate with crackers. It was a quite filling, giving him more energy than he’d felt all day. Considering that he’d been an old man before today, he was certainly feeling much better than he had in a long time. He’d have to ask what the bean paste was, and where he could get more.

Well, it had been a productive day. He’d successfully gotten some measure of trust with the Doctor. The man obviously had been suspicious, but giving his name had assuaged him. It had been a strange request. Harry, of course, knew that hearing one’s name from the owner gave you a certain bond, which is why Harry did so. It showed that Harry was willing to trust the Doctor. The Doctor kept his name secret, but at the very least, allowed Harry into his home.

“So,” Harry said, returning to the control room. The Doctor was nowhere in sight, but the sounds of electricity and his sonic wand filled the room. “Seeing as how I already have a room on here, I assume I’m here for a while.”

“You have a room?!” the Doctor yelled in surprise. There was a clanging, then an ‘ow!’ and then he scrambled from underneath the ships controls. He had taken off his jacket, and there were grease marks scattered across his skin and clothes. Actually, without the tweed jacket, the Doctor looked pretty fit.

“Yeah. It had my initials on it.”

The Doctor groaned. “Of course you like him. Why do you do this to me?” he asked the ceiling. He sighed. “Fine. You’re welcome here for as long as you like.”

“Right. Thanks” Harry turned to leave, but was stopped by the Doctor’s voice.

“I had just one more question, before you turn in.”

Harry met his eyes, and waited for the question to come.

There was a bit of an awkward pause.

“Are you—oh, that’s a yes isn’t it?” He scrambled for his words and composure. “In your universe, how did you learn magic?”

Just one question, the Doctor had said. Of course he had to pick one with a long explanation. “Once I was 11, I went to a, uh, school for magic. It was a pretty old school, well-established and everything. I learned magic mostly from my professors. After I finished my schooling, I found books on magic that taught me some more complicated spells, and how to change spells I already knew. I even taught at the school for a while.”

“Wait, how old are you?”

Harry smiled. That would be a question he could never honestly answer, not without telling the Doctor about being the Master of Death. Besides, who knows how old this body was? “You only had one question left. Ask again tomorrow.”

After seeing it so many times, it was easy to tell what expression the Doctor used whenever he was frustrated and bursting with curiosity. It made Harry want to laugh. He was grateful that the Doctor wasn’t being pushy, like a certain blonde reporter for the Daily Prophet. Then again, no one could be as pushy as her.

The Doctor let himself exhale, then relaxed his shoulders. Without another word, he ducked back under the controls to continue whatever maintenance he’d been doing.

“Good night. Or, good whatever-it-is.”

“Sleep well!” the Doctor replied, the sound somewhat muffled in the electric shocks that began again.

Harry retraced his steps until he found the bedroom again. It was a tall wooden door, made from holly. He’d recognize it anywhere. It made him miss his wand for a moment, but he pushed that away. Sleep would help this thinking. If nothing else, it could keep him occupied for a time.

The room inside was cozy. There was a fireplace along a wall with a decent fire warming up the area. Next to it was a large overstuffed armchair, reminding him of the Gryffindor common room. A simple desk was in one corner, ready with a bottle of ink, a roll of parchment, and a quill. The bed on the other side was large 4-post bed, with brown and red blankets; again, he was reminded of Hogwarts.

Home.

“Oh, Merlin,” he said, sighing.

 

~~~

 

The Doctor was normally pretty observant. Of course, there were cases where he had lost focus on his surroundings because he was trying to solve a problem. Or was fascinated by something new. Or explaining something to a companion. Or learning technology or sociology.

Okay, he wasn’t all that observant. It’s not his fault.

Anyways, he wasn’t so unobservant that he missed that Harry had cried after coming aboard the TARDIS. Harry had later explained that he was from an alternate universe. That meant all of his friends, family, memories and belongings were locked away, far out of his reach. He had not said _when_ he switched universes, but it seemed to be recent. It was perhaps best to give him time to recover from the loss. Rassilon knows he was still trying to get over the Pond’s abrupt departure.

He wanted to think of anything but that right now. It hurt.

How on earth did Harry’s magic work? Being a man of science, it was reasonable that the Doctor wanted to make reason of it all. Everything came down to physics, and everything had to be done somehow. Science should be able to explain it. Yet, despite all the Doctor’s centuries of studies, he had no idea where to start.

There had to be something he could do to understand how the Harry’s magic worked. No dissections, of course, but perhaps there were tests or scans the TARDIS could run for him.

The Doctor spent the next few hours absorbed in searching for potential tests and scans available to him. A scan for alien DNA, for time-space connections to his form, for alternate matter… There were options, but no guarantee that the results could mean anything.

“Did you sleep at all?” Harry’s voice snapped him to attention. How long had it been? A glance to the clock showed that 6 hours had passed. That didn’t seem enough, but the Doctor would not question it. At least Harry seemed to have showered and changed. Now that his hair was (slightly) neater, he could see a bit of a scar on Harry’s forehead. He filed that away for later.

“No, I don’t really need sleep. I don’t get that buildup of neural waste that humans do.”

“Is that why we sleep?”

“Kind of. It’s also influenced by muscular and cardiovascular exhaustion.”

“So…we sleep because we’re tired?”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. Harry was, of course, grinning at his reaction. “I guess. Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to visit anywhere or anytime. If you have no preference, then I have a few places in mind.”

“Like where?”

 

~~~

 

“Okay, I’m not letting you choose again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter has Merlin. My sister just needs to READ HER EMAIL ALREADY so she can beta. Hopefully that'll be soon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's late. This one is not sister-approved, so continue at your own risk.

“Okay, I’m not letting you choose again.”

“Why is that?”

Harry gestured to the medieval soldiers surrounding them, pointing their spears and ordering them to surrender their weapons. Harry and the Doctor had been outside of the TARDIS for 5 minutes, and had already drenched themselves in dirty river water, ensued on a foot chase, and been accused of witchcraft. Which, honestly.

“Oh, this is normal,” the Doctor said casually, following the soldiers and trying to avoid being poked. “It’s been a couple weeks since the last time. It took 4 minutes and 43 seconds for the capture to occur, and this is a bit earlier than normal, sure. But I want to point out that we’re at least going somewhere interesting!” The Doctor beamed at him.

“You don’t know where though, do you?”

“That’s beside the point.”

Harry rolled his eyes. Honestly, he had a couple of partners as an Auror who were reckless (cough cough, Zacharias Smith, cough cough) but the Doctor certainly took the cake.

They were led to large chamber with shackles along the walls. How medieval. Considering they were in medieval England, though, he had no right to be surprised. Still, Harry had to grit his teeth as his wrists were locked into the uncomfortable thick metal cuffs. It smelled rancid in here, like a mix of a dungbomb and a moldy dishrag.

It would be so easy to overpower the soldiers and escape. Undoing the locks would be simple, despite his wand being in his pocket. Alohamora was a simple charm, so he could easily cast it wandlessly. He’d struggled with wandless magic, but this he could do.

The only thing that stopped him was the completely casual manner of the Doctor. This might as well as been a routine for him (and it probably was). He was looking around the chamber, his strong jaw lifting and his head nodding appreciatively.

The guards left, hurriedly muttering something about getting the King as soon as possible before the wizards fought their way out. There was only a small sliver of light in the dark room, coming from under the door, two thin shadows indicating a guard posted outside their door.

“So who’s the King right now?” Harry asked conversationally.

“I’m not sure. Could be an early Tudor or one of those Dark Age mystery rulers.”

“Do you always walk out of the TARDIS without checking what you’re stepping into?”

“Hey,” the Doctor cried, offended.

“That’s not a ‘no’.”

The Doctor sighed, but didn’t respond.

Harry heard faint sound of stone against stone. It was too dark to see exactly where the sound came from, but he hoped it was the Doctor doing something productive.

“Ooh, are we escaping now?” the Doctor asked, suddenly sounding excited.

Hold on, if the Doctor wasn’t making the sound…“I’m not doing anything.”

A muffled curse came from a corner of the room, relatively close to them, and a block of the wall came loose. The shadows shifted, and out crawled a man.

“I never want to use those tunnels again,” he muttered. Harry could hear him brush off his clothes. Some more shifting, the block was placed back, then a candle was lit.

The man was young, with dark hair and servant’s clothes. His eyes were sharp, inspecting the both of them. The room was silent for a minute while he just stared.

“Uh…hi?” the Doctor said slowly, sounding much less optimistic and more confused.

“Sorry.” The man shook his head and blinked a couple times. He then gave them a smile. “My name is Merlin. I heard you two were found conducting magic, and I wanted to check on you.”

Harry just about went into shock.

Merlin.

_Merlin._

The actual, real-life, in-the-flesh Merlin.

Even with his limited knowledge of History of Magic, he knew just how incredibly influential Merlin was to the world of magic.

Hold on, if Merlin was real, did that mean there were other wizards in this universe? Holy shit. This would mean that Harry wasn’t the only one, there were people he could talk to about magic, and they would know what he was talking about. What if there was a Hogwarts here?

No, he was getting ahead of himself. There was no Hogwarts here, he could sense it. Magical grounds that powerful are hard to miss, no matter how far you are.

The Doctor glanced over at Harry, trying to gauge his reaction. Harry glared back.

“I swear, if you brought us here specifically to see Merlin, I’m going to break your sonic wand.”

The switch to the defensive was instant. “You said Merlin quite a few times! I just used it as inspiration, I didn’t expect to actually find a real Merlin.”

Harry wanted to curse ‘Merlin’ and roll his eyes, but it was hard to do when the man himself stood before them.

“Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhkay” Merlin breathed, looking at them with something between alarm and confusion. “You two are taking your situation rather calmly. You do realize that King Arthur is going to take one look at you, and order your executions, right?”

“If I had a galleon for every death threat” Harry muttered to the side.

“Look, we’re just passing through,” the Doctor began explaining. “We’re from a place where we have tools much more advanced than you do. The ‘witchcraft’ that I did was just an application of that tool.”

“He said you have a wand” Merlin countered.

“That’s because he _is_ a wizard, and thinks that my tool is magic, just like you guys.”

“Hey!” How dare he group him together with an ignorant and scared mob! And how dare he throw Harry under the bus! He was about to let the Doctor have it, but Merlin cut in before he could get a word out.

“Look, I don’t care about that. What matters is that the King is on his way here, and you two are going to have a hard time getting out of this alive.”

Harry sighed. Merlin had a point, they couldn’t argue like this when they were going to be burnt at the stake. “Alohomora,” he said, and the shackles popped open on his wrists.

Merlin’s eyes widened. “You weren’t kidding. Wow.”

Harry huffed a laugh. “Yeah, but you’re sure one to talk, Merlin the Great. Or whatever your official title was.” The Doctor’s shackles clacked loudly against the stone wall as Harry cast the unlocking charm. “So—“

“Sh!” Merlin suddenly looked panicked. He fumbled in his pockets, and finally finding it, used his wand to make himself invisible. The candle blew out just as the door opened. Strange, Harry had not heard the approaching group.

Standing in the doorway was a tall blonde man with a neat beard and a simple crown of gold on his head. A few soldiers entered with him, holding torches to light the room. His robes seemed to reflect gold in the flickering light.

Oh, right. King Arthur. From the legends, the same as Merlin. Well, this may as well happen.

“King Arthur! So nice to meet you, I’m a big fan.” The Doctor grinned and stepped forward, his hand extended to shake the King’s. A soldier swung his blade in the Doctor’s path. The glinting iron missed the Doctor by inches. The Doctor’s body was frozen in place. The expression on his face likely would’ve been funny, if Harry could see it.

Another soldier pointed his sword at Harry, for good measure. “How did you release yourselves from the shackles?” he barked.

How many times would Harry have to say it? “Magic.” Being in a world of muggles was exhausting when they questioned your every move.

The king did not look afraid, like the couple of soldiers shifting nervously. No, instead there was a bit of curiosity and calculation in his face.

“You have hurt no one?”

Harry and the Doctor shook their heads.

“And you have no intention of hurting myself or my kingdom?”

“No!” the Doctor cried, almost baffled by the concept.

There was silence as King Arthur seemed to contemplate. His face seemed sharp in the shifting shadows, his eyes hallowed and his jaw clenched. Something was wrong in this kingdom. Hopefully, the King wasn’t planning on killing them with barely a second thought.

The king sighed. He placed his gloved hands behind him back. “Guards, leave us.”

“Sire!”

“Now” he ordered, leaving no room for argument. One of his large hands took a torch offered to him. Soon, the door closed with a loud clang. What was the king intending to do? Harry’s hand drifted towards his wand in his pocket.

“I want to make a deal.”

“What?” Harry and the Doctor said in unison, Harry more shocked and the Doctor more confused.

“I have decided to show some measure of good will. There is a situation I need resolved, and it requires persons more…mystical than I or my people. In exchange, you will be let free.”

Oh, this must be interesting. Harry and the Doctor shifted closer, both very focused on the king’s words. “How can we help?” the Doctor asked.

Harry noted that the Doctor said ‘we.’ Something to consider later.

“Close to this castle is a large system of caves. Several days ago, a creature suddenly appeared, basically crashing. No one knows the extent of the caverns, so it is impossible to know from whence he came. We are lucky that it has not tried to attack us. We try to feed it, to keep it from becoming hungry, but it does not eat. We fear it shall hunt humans given time. We need it out.”

“Take us there,” Harry said, determined. It sounded like several cases he’d dealt with, where dangerous magical creatures were lost, stuck or confused. Sometimes, it would take too long to call in a creature specialist in emergency situations, so Aurors were sent in.

The Doctor whipped his head towards Harry. “Hold on, we have no idea what it is. It could be a dragon for all we know.”

Harry waved a hand at the Doctor. “Pssh. I’ve been dealing with dragons since I was 14. We’ve got nothing to worry about.”

A cough came from the king, the kind of cough that told you that you were being disrespectful. Right, he was a king.

“Actually, the best way to describe this creature is a dragon.”

The Doctor groaned.

 

~~~

 

“Wow.”

The Doctor’s eyes were met with an extremely large cavern. Faint blue light came from somewhere in the cave, just barely outlining stalactites and stalagmites. Beneath the platform they stood on was, as well as could be described, a dragon.

Except it wasn’t. The Doctor recognized this species. It had wings, no legs, and a flexible maroon exoskeleton around its half-mile-long body. “This is a Buldren. They’re from a planet called Naisul, they’re a very well-established race.”

The eye of the Buldren opened. Instead of an eyeball, the eyelid revealed a collection of electro-magnetic sensors, looking much like the eye of a fly. Except, this was a black color, and could move and shift focus.

“You know, I’m going to take a guess and say that he’s lost,” Harry said, standing beside the Doctor and peering down.

“She. The exoskeleton is dark red, rather than a light red. It makes the females more efficient hunters, and the males more efficient harvesters.”

King Arthur did not approach the ledge of their platform. “Then I can safely say you know how to deal with it?”

“Well, sure.” The Doctor shrugged. “I’ll just get down there and we’ll have a chat. It’s been a while since I’ve used my empathetic language muscles anyways.” The Doctor shot a grin in Harry’s direction.

Harry, however, did not seem to react much. There was certainly curiosity, and he was studying the Buldren intensely. Perhaps there were some procedures he knew for dealing with magical creatures, something the Doctor could use.

Well, the Buldren weren’t really magical. They harvested electro-magnetic energy from the trees and plants of Naisul, and hunted for smaller creatures to feed their growing children. It was no wonder the Buldren seemed to lie exhausted on the cavern’s floor. There were no trees here. It might not survive long. “Exactly how long has it been here?”

“4 and a half days.”

Damn. It had outlived the expected 3.35 days, considering its size and age. They had maybe hours.

“We have to hurry. Harry?” The Doctor held out his arm, and waited for Harry to apparate them. Sure, it was a definite misuse of 4th dimensional travel, but they didn’t have the time to find another way down.

“You could at least say please,” Harry said as he took his arm in his.

“Oh, you’re one to talk. I—“

The air around him seemed to squeeze him, suck the air out his lungs. He felt as if he was going to implode, and at the same time, blast in every possible direction.

Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. He fell to the ground on his hands and knees, coughing. Nausea threatened to overtake him.

“Damn. I forgot to tell you to hold your breath. Sorry, Doctor.”

The Doctor glared up at Harry, suspecting sarcasm. But there didn’t seem to be anything but concerned awkwardness in his expression. The nausea was fading, so he decided to forgive Harry. “I have oxygen reserves, I was just surprised.”

“That’s right. Time Lord.”

“What’s a Time Lord?” a voice suddenly asked beside them. Out of the shadows came Merlin, looking casual despite scaring the soul out of him.

“Wait,” the Doctor began. “You followed us all the way down here?”

“Of course. I knew something was going on in the Eastern Caves, but I wasn’t expecting there to be an actual dragon.”

“It’s not a dragon, it’s a female Buldren, from a planet called—“

“Doctor,” Harry cut in. “I thought we had to hurry.”

His eyes widened. That’s right, they didn’t have much time left. The poor thing was almost starving to death.

Without another word, he dashed over to the Buldren. In his mind, he could hear a groaning sound, communicating pain and exhaustion beyond description.

He stood beside the Buldren. The eyes seemed weak and unfocused. The wings were splayed out on the dirty cave floor, which was disturbing given that Buldren kept their wings extremely clean.

_‘Hello. I want to help.’_ The language would always pass along the speakers emotions, and the Doctor focused on the urgency and kindness he had to offer. It was similar to telepathy, except more nuanced. _‘What is your name?’_

_‘Anaidan. Please, I don’t have long.’_ Desperation, yet a growing feeling of hope.

_‘I will help. Tell me how you got here.’_

_‘I don’t know. I was thrown through a void without warning, and landed here.’_ Helplessness and anger.

That’s bad. Very bad. Random kidnappings across time and space. It sounded a lot like the crack. A painful jab in his chest reminded him of little Amelia Pond’s bedroom, where a crack in the wall glowed and scared the child.

There was no time for that. Anaidan’s eye closed in exhaustion. There had to be some way to return her to Naisul.

“Doctor!” Harry and Merlin approached, seeming winded from the run here. Harry touched a hand to the Anaidan’s side. Anaidan groaned softly in the silent language. A look of surprise crossed his face, and he glanced at the Doctor. “Um, did you hear that?”

“You can understand empathetic languages?” the Doctor asked. But no, he had no time for that either, he could come back to it. “Never mind. Right now, we have no way of getting her home.”

“What about the TARDIS?”

“She’s larger than the door, it would take hours to fit her through, and Anaidan would have to move on her own. Could you apparate her back to Naisul?”

Harry shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“Why?”

“I can’t go anywhere I don’t know, and I’ve never tried to side-along a larger creature. I might accidently splinch her.”

Another groan. This time, the pain was lower and the exhaustion increasing each second. The Doctor had never seen or heard a Buldren die, but he imagined that it began like that.

_‘No, please, Anaidan, stay with us.’_ He infused as much panic and desperation as he could.

_‘I don’t know if I can. Please, if nothing else, just return my body home.’_ Resolution and exhaustion, making for a painfully hopeless combination.

_‘No! I won’t let you die!’_ He would not lose anyone, not again. There had to be something he could do.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Harry. Something different was in his eyes, something he hadn’t seen in another person in a long time. “Doctor, dying is not so bad. There are only good things that await her. Her pain would be gone, and she will be with her loved ones.”

Fury flared within him. The Doctor clenched his jaw, and shook Harry’s hand from his shoulder. “’Dying is not so bad’? There is so much left for her in life, she does not deserve to lose it. Not when I can do something.”

“Do what?”

“I don’t know!” he roared. The echo in the cavern carried his frustration farther and farther, like a drop of water into a well.

Merlin stepped closer, and spoke with a calm, low voice. “Doctor, you said that she feeds on electromagnetic energy, right? Is there a way to produce it ourselves?”

The Doctor gasped. “That’s it!” He took out his sonic screwdriver, and quickly began fiddling with it. “If I can get it to produce radio waves, that might be enough.”

He didn’t want to admit that it would only produce a miniscule amount of the necessary electromagnetic waves, and there was only a small chance it would be sufficient. But it was better than nothing.

Finally, he found a program within the screwdriver’s storage. It was something he had fiddled with on a very bored day. Thank Rassilon.

“Here we go!” He activated the screwdriver, and touched it to Anaidan’s side. Instantly, there was a stirring in her emotions, and he could feel the emotional strength slowly return.

“Yes!” he cheered. He looked over at the two wizards behind him. “If you’ve got some way of producing light, use it now. It’s a bit less healthy, but it’ll work quickly.”

Harry took out his wand and muttered “lumos.” A nearly blinding light came from the tip of the wand. Following the Doctor’s lead, he touched the wand to the exoskeleton. Merlin pulled out a wand, moved in a complicated pattern, then a ball of light sprung forward, hovering in the air.

Anaidan’s exhaustion was decreasing. Light for Buldrens was like sugar for humans. A quick energy boost might give her the motivation to keep on. The Doctor nearly collapsed onto Anaidan’s body with relief.

She would live.

 

~~~

 

When the Doctor had said that it would take hours to get Anaidan into the TARDIS, he had not been exaggerating. It took the combined effort of Harry, the Doctor and Merlin to stretch the TARDIS door open, all the while shining light and emitting radio waves. Anaidan had slowly shifted farther inside. She needed several breaks, since her energy levels were not recovering fast enough to support this much movement. It had worried the Doctor to see her still so tired, but with patience, she managed to fit in.

The Doctor was proud of their achievement. Flying the TARDIS to Naisul had been difficult as the room was filled with Anaidan’s long body, but they still landed safely. Or, as safely as usual.

Merlin had been invited along, as thanks for the help. After all, it was his idea to provide the energy themselves, and buy them time to get her home.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Naisul!” The door opened and showed a lush forest of red and yellow trees. The sky was a dim pink color, with clouds of nitrogen vapor in the air. Their view was high enough to see miles away, and still, all there was were those trees. Anaidan nearly sung relief and joy as the energy emitting from the trees bounced around the TARDIS control room.

In order for Anaidan to get out, they needed to repeat the process of stretching and holding the TARDIS door open. “Alright, let get to it!” the Doctor said cheerfully. Harry and Merlin were not so enthusiastic.

Luckily for them, Anaidan was able to move through the door in less than 5 minutes. Her energy levels were drastically improving with each second. Compared to earlier, her emotions were like a concert, full of excitement, freedom, and gratitude, blasting on full volume. The Doctor couldn’t help but to smile with her, and feel the same.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Harry, smiling the same way. The Doctor remembered the questions he wanted to ask Harry, but he wouldn’t ruin the moment. It could wait.

“May I go outside?” Merlin asked. He seemed to be beyond amazed at the forest before him. The sight filled the Doctor with warm and put a smile on his face.

“By all means,” he invited, gesturing towards the outside. Harry followed after Merlin, gazing around and around like he couldn’t get enough.

Anaidan was currently wrapped around a tree of light red bark, humming contentedly. _‘I’ve never been so glad to harvest in my life.’_

The Doctor and Harry chuckled. Merlin seemed enchanted by the tree Anaidan was resting on. Slowly he approached it, gazing up in wonder. The Doctor smiled at the sight. It felt good to show off planets to humans, and it had been a while since he had done so.

The Ponds were the last ones he had travelled with. Their departure felt so recent. He couldn’t even say how long it had been. Their absence left a hole where his sense of time had been.

But that wasn’t really true now. There was Harry. He had taken the Doctor’s mind off of the Ponds, for far longer than he could have hoped. He didn’t forget the Ponds, but he wasn’t as empty. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, having Harry around was helping him.

Suddenly, Merlin cried out. The Doctor’s eyes widened as he saw why.

Merlin had touched the tree that Anaidan was on.

He rushed as fast as he could and tackled the young man to the ground. It wasn’t fast enough. Merlin’s eyes had rolled back and his body jerked and twitched. The empathetic energy emitting from him was going wild, unnaturally bursting out.

“What’s happening?” Harry yelled, kneeling beside the Doctor.

“He touched Anaidan’s tree. Buldrens harvest by fusing their consciousness with the tree, and absorbing the energy. He just got a blast of energy and Anaidan’s memories. He’s not an empath, so he doesn’t have the capacity to sort it out.”

“Oh damn.” Harry sighed forcefully. “Snape would kill me if he saw this.” Harry shoved away the Doctor’s form and placed his hands on both sides of Merlin’s head.

“What are you doing?!”

“Trying to help. Granted, I was never really good at Legimancy, but I’m passable.”

“That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence!” Was this how his companions felt when he jumped into problems headfirst, no plan and no security?

“Shut up! I found the memories, I’m going to try to help him contain them.”

The Doctor crossed him arms, but then suddenly remembered Anaidan. He whipped around to see her resting in the tree, looking comfortable and calm, like nothing had happened. There was no way of knowing if there would be any long-term damage from this. He shouldn’t try to disturb her now, not while she was still fused with the tree.

A tense minute later, Harry released Merlin’s head, and leaned back. Merlin’s eyes slowly opened. “Bloody hell.”

Harry burst out laughing. The sound broke the heaviness in the air. The Doctor let his shoulders relax, and his breath release.

“How do you feel?” The Doctor examined Merlin for any injuries, emotional or physical. He seemed fine on all accounts. Harry must have done quite a bit of work in Merlin’s head to get him to recover so fast.

“A little weird. I feel like I’m much older now.”

It was the Doctor’s turn to laugh. It made sense, he literally absorbed years of memories within minutes. “How about we get you back home? You probably have had enough of this planet already.”

Merlin smiled and nodded.

 

~~~

 

King Arthur had thanked them, even if curtly. “Your aid has been invaluable. My kingdom is safer thanks to you. Now, I must ask you to leave.”

Harry shrugged. He was never interested in medieval England, anyways. There wasn’t much he would miss. “Alright.”

The king nodded, a hint of relief in his eyes. “I shall have my servant Merlin escort you out of the castle. Know that, should you return, you will be killed without hesitation.”

Wow, okay. That seemed a little more aggressive than the situation warranted. Harry and the Doctor shared a look, and bowed. “Will do.”

Merlin led them through the castle, asking the Doctor a couple questions about his memories. Harry couldn’t follow. The Yana movement, the location of Naisul, and what kind of waves the trees emitted. Each topic spurred the Doctor in a flurry of explanation. He seemed surprisingly passionate about everything. Perhaps he would make a good professor.

Soon enough, they arrived at the TARDIS. The Doctor pulled Merlin into a hug, which was met with surprise and awkwardness. He smiled again, then stepped to the door of the TARDIS. “I wish you luck, Merlin. I hope you can remain hidden for long enough.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

With a final smile, he stepped into the TARDIS, leaving the door open for Harry to enter.

Harry was never good at goodbyes. He reached a hand out to Merlin for a handshake. With the physical contact, there were traces of the empathetic energy from earlier, and something more powerful underneath. Something strong, yet still growing in power. Magic.

Magic in Harry’s universe didn’t feel like that. It felt lighter and fluid. Magic really was different in this universe, but at least there _was_ magic.

“Before you go, may I ask you one thing?”

“Of course, anything you want. We owe you, after all.”

“Why did the Doctor insist that he is not magical?”

What the hell was Merlin talking about? “Sorry?”

“I just thought it was strange. He’s obviously some form of wizard too, so I’m just curious why.”

Oh, okay, that made sense. He thought that the Doctor was a wizard because of his technology and extensive knowledge of ‘magical’ species. There was no reason to argue with Merlin at this point, though, so he went along with it. “He doesn’t see himself as a wizard, so he doesn’t like it when people call him that.”

Merlin nodded. “I see. Well, Harry James Potter, you’d best be on your way. You surely have more important things to do than talk to me.”

The fact that Merlin had no idea how important he was, made Harry smile. “You’d be surprised.”

The door finally closed behind him. As the Doctor piloted them away, Harry suddenly realized something.

How did Merlin know his full name?

Bloody wizards and their secrets.

 

~~~

 

The Doctor had invited Harry to go off exploring the TARDIS, to see the library and the swimming pool and the planetarium. The invitation was taken, and he disappeared into the extensive halls.

His absence left the Doctor to this thoughts. There were many questions that had arisen during this last trip. How was Harry an empath? How could he manipulate people’s minds and memories? How old was he? What were the laws of physics in his universe? How far did his powers extend?

But perhaps Harry was the least of his worries. There had been some disturbing occurrences he had not considered yet. Michael had absorbed memories from an alternate universe, and could not tell which was which. At the time, it was plausible considering Michael had literally been bouncing around in the Time Vortex. It was like a storm in there, hiding many opportunities for unusual events.

But now, there were several things about Anaidan’s kidnapping that didn’t quite fit either. Anaidan had been snatched from Naisul in 402 /A, and thrown into medieval England. The sky over Naisul was always pink, and the Doctor had never known it to be any other color. But when Merlin spoke of Anaidan’s memories, and marveled at the bright _purple_ sky of Naisul. It was a subtle difference, but still disturbing.

The Doctor had a theory, but he prayed he was wrong. He wouldn't tell Harry until he knew for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know dragons in a cave was a thing in the Merlin TV show, but I've had this idea for literal years, so please don't sue. Next chapter is hopefully coming soon, it'll be in 1974 Chicago.


End file.
